Obama is encouraging people to vote early — here's what you need to know

President Barack Obama urged people to vote
early in a video released this week by the Hillary
Clinton campaign, saying that millions of Americans,
including himself, will cast their votes ahead of Election
Day.

Early voting is not new and has been a popular option for
absentee voters for years. However it wasn't until 1978 when
California became the first state to allow "no excuse absentee
voting" that it became a common way to cast a ballot.

Yet, while the majority of states allow some form of early
voting today, it's not quite as simple as Obama made it seem
in his video. In fact, different states have different
rules, and some don't allow any type of early voting at
all.

So before you run off to your local polling station right now,
here's what you need to know:

1) No-excuse early voting. There
are 34 states that have no-excuse early voting. This means
that voters who can't, or don't want to, go to the polls on
Election Day can choose to vote in the days leading up to the
election.

However, while all these states allow no-excuse early voting, the
dates and times an individual can submit a ballot depend on
the state or the county. Some states only allow early voting a
couple days before the election, while others allow early voting
around 40 days before the election.

2) In-person absentee voting. Another
way to think of this is as "excused early voting." This is an
option for voters who have a valid excuse for being unable to
make it to their polling location on November 8. Different states
have different qualifications about what is concerned a valid
excuse.

Individuals who qualify to vote early can vote at
polling places in-person, rather than just filling out
an absentee voting ballot.

The states that have in-person absentee voting are: Kentucky,
Mississippi, Missouri, New York, South Carolina, and
Virginia.

3) All-mail voting. It is also
important to note that Colorado, Oregon, and Washington have all
mail-in ballots, therefore eliminating the need for early voting
options. In all those states the ballots must be received by a
certain time on election day.

4) No early voting. For voters registered
in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, early voting is not an option.
Voters in those states can either vote by absentee ballot or go
to the polls on November 8.